After winding back the clock to produce some of his best ever form last season, Corey Oates is hoping to be even better this year after spending more time working with his centre partner Herbie Farnworth.
Speaking to media following the Broncos' training session on Tuesday morning, as well as saying what he was doing to work on his own game, Oates was full of praise for the England star who has returned to Red Hill following a huge World Cup campaign.
"(To improve, I will need to) stick with what I've done well, just do my job, my effort areas, work hard with my centre partner Herbie and get my carries and try and be error free," Oates said.
“Herbie, I always say it, he's going to be a massive talent if he keeps his head on and to be honest, he's done that well the last 18 months with what's going through the club and how the performance has been, and I think he's been a really, really big improver for us, and he’s going to keep improving.
"He’s got a lot more to offer and he knows that and he's working hard; and for him and I as an edge combination, we have got a lot to work on, just finishing those half-a-dozen tries that we probably didn't do last year.
“We are just trying to get that completion on the finishes, try and get that to a high percentage.
“(Since his return from England duty) he's coming back confident and really, really confident in what he set up talks about in the in the group huddles and he’s been good to be honest.
"Really happy for him and how he went as an individual performance and their team played really well.”
Oates also addressed questions about the well-being of Payne Haas, who has been granted personal leave by the club and who he expected back at training next week, and the feeling amongst the group following the resurfacing of a podcast in which Selwyn Cobbo questioned Kevin Walters' coaching ability.
The Broncos were quick to address the comments, issuing a club statement, and Oates said Cobbo and Walters had also put the issue to bed just as quickly, avoiding any awkwardness at training.
“They cleared it up, and it had nothing to do with us, it was just between those two,” Oates said.
“And yeah, to be honest, they had it all sorted before we come back in and we cleared the air really quick and they’re fine, the team’s fine.
“We're all training great, nothing’s really changed to be honest, so it’s happened and yeah, that's between those two.
“I've been here through a lot of things and I think I think Kevin's done a great job … I think he's done a great job to be honest … bringing players to the club and getting boys to perform and for me, I think that's a coach on the way to really knowing what who they are as a coach, so I think he's doing a really good job.”
Oates also said that while it was up to each individual player, he often turned down requests to speak on podcasts unless asked to through the club.
Reynolds: I've come back the fittest I've been in a long time
"Yeah, if he [Selwyn] asked me if you should have done it, yeah I would have probably said no, but he might feel comfortable doing it," Oates said.
"I'm not too sure, but yeah, if you ever ask me on that sort of stuff, I'd just say no. I don't like it, I've never really done unless it's through the club, (but) yeah, I probably wouldn’t do them."
With the NRL pre-season challenge fast approaching, as well as a trial match against Wynnum Manly Seagulls on February 4, the Broncos will be hoping more focus turns to their on-field preparations with all their fit players – including World Cup winning forward Pat Carrigan – having returned to pre-season training.
